Can I give my 5 month old a bottle filled half with water...?

Question

Not to drink, but to help him hold his bottle. He can't lift it yet, so I am thinking this would help? Any ideas?

Answer 1

he should beable to hold the bottle at 5 months old.

Answer 2

To get her to drop that night feeding calculate how many ounces of formula she eats in a 24 hour period, and get all that during the day. By 5 months she can be eating a bottle every 4 hours and taking solids inbetween. I remember we gave ours solids 3 times a day and she had 4 bottles, and if she woke up at night we knew she wasn't hungry. You may have to let her cry. Your schedule for her may look something like this: 7 (or when she wakes up) bottle 8:30 cereal or oatmeal or fruit 9 nap 11 bottle 12:30 meat or veggies 1 nap 3 bottle 5:30 meat or veggies 7 bottle right before bed You may want to make sure she is taking only 2 naps a day and no more than 1 1/2 hours each, and make sure she is up 3 or 4 hours before bed or she won't be sleepy enough. Some good veggies to start are squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, or mixed veggies. They are sweet, so she will like them. Once she is used to these you can move on to green beans and peas. After that you can try some meats such as chicken and apples, turkey and sweet potatoes etc. And all the baby food brands are great and sometimes a different brand will have foods another brand doesn't offer. Good luck.

Answer 3

Sure, a bottle of water never hurt anyone, assuming your water source is safe, of course. But I don't understand why you would want to give him a bottle, but not to drink, just to build arm strength? Any similiar wt. toy would work as well, and have more eye appeal. Or maybe thats not the point, if it's half filled with water, what's the other half filled with? That's the stuff that may be dangerous, not the water. Also you don't mention frequency... daily, weekly, hourly? That would also make a difference. If he is going to drink it, (and I'd say he will, at that age anything that comes to their hands, goes in their mouths!) then once a day would be optimal, breast is best after all. It's nutritional value shouldn't be compromised with too much water. At 5 months, he can start other foods too.

Answer 4

Life is so much easier when your baby starts holding thier own bottle. There is nothing wrong with giving your baby a bottle of water. There wouldn't even be anything wrong with your baby drinking the water. The only thing you have to watch is that your baby isn't filling itself up on water and not formula. 5 month olds rely on their formula more then they eat food. So it's important that they don't get full with water that has no nutritional value to it.

Answer 5

He'll learn to hold it eventually. I wonder why you are rushing him? Incidentally my first child never wanted to hold her bottle even though she could! And we enjoyed giving it to her. It might free you up when he can hold it himself but he will only be a baby for a short time. Enjoy it and hold his bottle if that's what he wants. It isn't going to stunt his independence. (-;

Giving water isn't a bad idea even to drink (as long as it doesn't take away from nutrition, when a baby is very young), especially for laying down at sleep time. It is not going to damage the teeth but gives baby something to drink. We did this with all our kids and none of them have developed cavities in their baby teeth.

Answer 6

All babies develop differently, just because he isn't holding his own bottle yet doesn't mean anything. He might just prefer that you hold it for him. He WILL hold it in his own time when he's ready. There's no harm in trying to give him a bottle with water in it though.

Answer 7

at 5 months old he isn;t even ready to hold his bottle. If he is formula fed there is no need for water as the formula is half water. if he is breasttfed there is no need for water either. You can give it to him I mean its not gonna hurt him but you may find that he fills up on water and drinks less formula or breastmilk.....if it were me I would give up the water idea.

Answer 8

Yeah you can i have two girls 19 months and 3 months and it will not hurt them and you can even let them drink it but no more than a cup a day they need milk to be healthy!!

Answer 9

half filled with water and the other filled with milk? Ew Yuck! lol I wouldn't do just water the poor thing is too weak give him time and he'll get stronger =)


→Sophia**

Answer 10

what's the rush? Your baby will hold his bottle when he gets ready too.Before 6mos, I don't think you should offer anything other than breast milk or formula. those are both formulated with the proper amounts of vitamins/minerals and anything else will dilute them.